It is that time of year again, the Peppermint Mocha is here, Christmas blend is brewing, the elf on the shelf has returned (#sadface) and the holiday music is cranking in the stores. Starbucks recently announced they are bringing back their Starbucks for Life Game throughout the holiday season.
If you haven’t played Starbucks for Life it is a fun little game where you can earn anything from bonus stars to holiday drinks, to FREE STARBUCKS FOR LIFE. This year 2 .5 MILLION Prizes will be given away!
Now, if you are like me and only have Starbucks once or twice a week, winning at this game might seem impossible. Here, I will give you the overview on how to play and tips on how to play for free and increase your chances of winning by 500%….It’s Easy & FREE!
Starbucks for Life is Back for 2020! Super Secret Ways to Win!
The Starbucks for Life Game runs this year from December 1, 2020 – January 4, 2021. In 2020 Starbucks launched a whole new batch of Starbucks games from the Starbucks Summer Game to Starbucks Starland, but the granddaddy of them all is Starbucks for Life.
1) How to Play
The game is pretty simple and fun.
- You have to be a Starbucks rewards member
- Sign up by going to starbucksforlife.com or via the Starbucks App
- You earn a game play every time you make a qualifying purchase with the card that is registered to your starbucks rewards. (It’s easiest if you use the app)
- You can earn up to two game plays a day (basically by drinking Starbucks twice a day) plus you can also earn game plays by completing challenges.
- Collect all three pieces in a row and you can win the collect and win prizes, there are also instant win prizes of bonus stars and free holiday drinks
2) Earn Extra gameplays with the Starbucks for Life Challenges
So, you can also get some extra gameplays by doing some challenges….some of them are FREE….. this is not the super secret trick, I will get to that soon
Here are some of the challenges – This year is a different than the past years as each week Starbucks has new challenges to do each week while in previous years you had the whole holiday season to accomplish all the tasks.
Starbucks for Life Challenges – Week 1 – Hanging with Melody:
December 1 through December 6, 2020
Tier 1 – Make one (1) Mobile Order & Pay purchase transaction at a participating Starbucks store – Receive 1 Bonus Play
Tier 2 – Make three separate Mobile Order & Pay purchases – Earn Three (3) Bonus Plays
Starbucks for Life Challenges – Week 2 – Gingerbrad’s Baking Competition
December 6th, 2020 – December 13th, 2020
Tier 1: Make one (1) purchase transaction at a participating Starbucks store before 11 a.m. (excluding alcoholic beverages, Starbucks Card and Starbucks Card reloads) Receive one (1) bonus play.
Tier 2: Make three (3) separate purchase transactions at a participating Starbucks store before 11 a.m. (excluding alcoholic beverages, Starbucks Card and Starbucks Card reloads) – Earn 3 Bonus Plays
Starbucks for Life Challenges – Week 3 –
Hot Cocoa Quest
December 14th – December 20th, 2020
Tier 1: Make a purchase transaction of $10 or more in a single transaction at a participating Starbucks store. Earn 1 bonus play.
Tier 2: Make a purchase transaction of $15 or more in a single transaction at a participating Starbucks store – Earn 3 bonus plays
Starbucks for Life Challenges – Week 4 – Juniper’s Firewood Hunt:
December 21st – December 27th, 2020
NOW THIS IS A TOUGH CHALLENGE
Tier 1: Make one (1) purchase transaction at a participating Starbucks store before noon and one purchase after 12:00 pm on the same day. (excluding alcoholic beverages, Starbucks Card and Starbucks Card reloads) – Earn 1 Bonus Play
Tier 2: On three (3) separate days make a purchase at a Starbucks store before noon and one purchase after 12:00 pm on the same day. – Earn 3 Bonus Plays
Starbucks for Life Challenges – Final Week – It’s a Wrap
December 28th 2020 – January 4th, 2021
Tier 1: Make 2 purchases using your Starbucks card or app – Earn 1 Bonus Play
Tier 2: Make four (4) separate purchase transactions at a participating Starbucks store – Earn 3 Bonus Plays
Last Year There were also random bonus challenges that pop up that will appear like Hot Cocoa Day, if we see these appear we will update this article right away.
3) Super Secret Way to Increase your Chances by at least 500%
Look, I love my Starbucks and would love winning Starbucks for Life, but I don’t go enough to win barely anything. And I have five kids so you won’t see me heading to Starbucks before 7 am to get the “Early Riser” game play when I got 5 kids to get ready for school. However, there is a SUPER SECRET way I can still earn entries from all the challenges and daily entries for FREE. There is no need to break from your normal routine to get gameplays. Here is how to do it.
- Click on the globe at the bottom center to play and scroll to the bottom.
- At the bottom, you will see no purchase necessary and then click here to enter.
- Fill out your name and address
- Choose the challenge you want to earn entries and click submit!
- In a minute you will receive an email saying activate your entry and play
- You can do this for every challenge
- Plus you can do the daily entry twice a day, every day!
- Basically, you can earn over 100 gameplays for FREE
What are The Prizes?
Like I said, there are 2.5 million prizes. In addition to Starbucks for Life, here are some of the other large prizes.
- Starbucks for You for 1year, 6 months, 3 months, or 1 month
- $500 Starbucks Gift Card
- Bose QuietComfort® Earbuds
- Alaska Airlines® Roundtrip Travel
Some of the Smaller Starbucks for Life Prizes Include:
- Starbucks for Life Limited Edition Puzzle from Ravensburger® (One of a Kind Premium Puzzle)
- Feeding America Charitable Donation (5 meals donated to a needy family)
- Starbucks for Life Coffee Collection (This super-special gift set features a tumbler, Starbucks Reserve coffee, a beanie hat and a Starbucks Reserve® canvas tote bag)
- Starbucks for Life Holiday Card Set
- Bonus Stars (From 5 stars to 150 stars)
- Starbcuks Food & Drinks (Enjoy Your next coffee or bakery item at participating stores could be free!)
What are your chances to win Starbucks for Life?
There are 5 Starbucks for life rare game pieces that will be given out during the promotion. The estimated value of winning Starbucks for Life is $56,575.00
Here is a break down of all the major prizes that will be distributed not to mention the 200,000 Instant Win Prizes available
I have won hundreds of bonus stars and some free drinks this way (no free Starbucks for life #sadface) and it literally takes just a minute or two each day, less time then a Starbucks run.
Starbucks for Life Secret Tier
The Starbucks for life game also has a secret tier you can unlock once you earn enough plays. This secret tier will get you chances to win Starbucks merchandise including some of their most sought after tumblers and mugs.
Think of all the delicious Caramel Brulee Lattes that you will be able to sip up this holiday season, and hopefully you will win one of the big prizes, like Starbucks for a month, Starbucks for a year, or best yet Starbucks for Life! Good Luck!
Are you a Starbucks Addict? Our friends at Board Area have some news on a STARBUCKS CREDIT CARD!
Want to Earn Gold Status in one visit – Check this article out from Mommy Points
What is your Favorite Starbucks Holiday Beverage?
Pin for Later – Super Secret Ways to win Starbucks for Life!
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All of the tier challenges are listed in the official rules
Thank you so much. I have updated the article to reflect all the challenges
I wish I found your article earlier. Thank you so much!!
Starbucks is being cheap asses with the prizes. 25 stars and I have played every single day since the first day. I have bought 2 coffees since then. Stop being cheap starbs!
The daily entry won’t let you submit because it wants you to prove that you’re not a robot, but there is no selection to do that on the screen.
That’s a bug that started just today if you try and do it on mobile. It worked yesterday just fine.
To fix it just go to Starbucksforlife.com on a desktop, the robot thing shows up fine there.
I assume they will fix the mobile bug soon.
I had that happen to me I called customer service she told me to use a different browser or perhaps a laptop. I waited a little bit longer and the ability to select I am not a robot returned. It was just a glitch on tDecember 1st I believe. I thought I was the only one thank you for saying something.
Yes there is.
Hi Kathy, Try again. I think that was a temporary glitch (box not showing to prove you’re not a robot) because it happened to me, too, but it worked later in the day.
Thanks, all!
https://www.starbucksforlife.com/#login just tells me: “This website is best viewed in portrait mode. Please rotate your phone.”
I am not on a phone. How can I play?
It’s letting me do more than two entries a day with using the no purchase necessary link. Does that mean if I do win it, they’ll see that I did more than two a day? I’m surprised it isn’t stopping me. Maybe it’s letting me do as many that would have been possible if I did two plays a day since the contest started?
I thought this too, i’m like oh cool! i’m getting extra plays! but this only happens when you use the form to get a challengée tier(have to fill out the form twice for most weeks challenges) and then the daily play option you can do two forms for that ON TOP of the tier challenges. That’s why you think you’re getting more plays but you’re all good! xx
This is great!! Thanks for the secret tip!! You’re awesome.
Hi great article about how to play ? bucks for life . thanks so much. Allie
Impossible to win Starbucks for Life. I’m a daily purchaser K2+ yearly and can’t even get the 125 Stars. Rethinking my daily choice. To many other options out there.
How can I play when I do not have a phone. I buy Starbucks all the time. Could some one tell me how I can do this before the game is over?
Linda,
If you don’t have a phone, you may try playing from any computer — yours or borrowed.
Go to https://www.starbucksforlife.com/#login
Best wishes to you!
May you win!
Did anyone else get the skis (aka rare piece) to win the Grand Prize like me? I checked my game board about a half hour later and it was gone!!! What a rip off!!! This happened this past Saturday 12/7 morning.
Haven’t won anything and I’ve played every single day and met the challenges, purchased Starbucks 1-2x a day. Not even 10 bonus stars.
I keep getting duplicate pieces and starting to believe this is a rip off.
I agree with raptorjesus, I play every day the free way, and I have gotten 25 bonus stars once. Every category on my board has two spaces filled and I can’t seem to get the third, instead I keep getting duplicates. There’s no way you have won “hundreds of stars” and free drinks. What a lie dude.
Ah, same here. Have two pieces to everything and now for the past week, it’s just been DUPLICATES EVERYDAY. Sucks!
Each area has two spaces filled for past two weeks—just getting duplicates now. Stupid game—they should call it Stockholm Syndrome.
Same. I just won the Starbucks for life coffee collection today though! Merry Christmas ? .
What would be helpful to known is how many people are getting stars. What are our chances? For example, 100,000,000 stars and only 29,030 winning game pieces.
This would be a 1:3440 chance to win something.
“Ah”…. she was courteous enough to post the # of prizes per item here. If a prize is already gone, you will never be able to win it and will only get duplicates. Don’t blame the blogger, do the math. It’s a probability elimination game with literally millions of people competing for a small number of prizes. Most are probably gone in the first week bc the whales get them. The gimmick is to let the rest of think they are still there so we keep buying more coffee than normal for that off chance that we win. At least she is showing you how to do this without spending extra than you normally would.
OkI have tried all week 2 or more times a day to get a game piece.free game pieces never go to my email. Why?
You might want to check your spam folder or your settings for blocked e-mail. The longest delay I’ve experienced waiting for an e-mail was a half-hour.
Well, after playing all available opportunities so far, have only gotten one instant prize 10 points and a board full of two game pieces out of three. Last year, got maybe 140 bonus points as an instant prize. This is the most pitiful waste of time yet. Don’t think I’ll bother with future Starbucks contests.
You might want to check your spam folder or your settings for blocked e-mail. The longest delay I’ve experienced waiting for an e-mail was a half-hour.
This wasn’t a super secret
Just my personal opinion here, but try playing your game pieces at different times during the day. Whatever random algorithm Starbucks is using to award prizes is based upon time of day.
Just a guess… YMMV
I agree with other comments. In the first week I had 2 pieces filled in every section. For the past 2 weeks I’ve played daily and have won a total of 10 stars. Every single play is a duplicate. This game is just another (brilliant) marketing ploy from a huge business. And yes, I got sucked in thinking I had a chance when I had all those spaces filled early on … just like every other player. 🙁
Hi! I read the T&Cs this year and it states that we are limited to 20 bonus entries of any kind this round. That means we can’t collect two bonus entries a day, every day – just some days. Can you clarify this? And also whether the weekly quests count as bonus entries? Those will add up to 20 quickly!
Hi there! Thanks for the tips for this Starbucks promotion. I am not able to find the area for the 2 free plays per day. Is it supposed to be on the Gameboard page or the challenges page? I am not seeing the snow globe at the bottom. Do I have to make a purchase first to have access to it? Thanks!
It is located on the bottom of the gameboard with your game pieces. You do not need to make a purchase.